The World Conference on Records in Salt Lake City

WORLD CONFERENCE ON RECORDS
IN SALT LAKE CITY
NILS WILLIAM OLSSON
The Genealogical Society of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latterday Saints celebrated its 75th anniversary Aug. 5-8,
1969, by hosting a World Conference on Records in Salt Lake
City, Utah. Answering an invitation from the Society, approx­imately
300 historians, archivists, and genealogists gathered
in Salt Lake City during the first week of August to lecture,
confer, and do research at a conference which probably was
the largest of its kind ever attempted.
The theme of the meeting was "Records Protection in an
Uncertain World," and one of the highlights of the visit was
a journey to the perpetual storage vaults, blasted out of the
primeval rock deep in the bowels of the mountains near
Utah's capital city. Here hundreds of rolls of raw microfilm
from every portion of the world arrive daily, are processed
and stored under conditions which are just about ideal.
The congress itself was carried on mainly in the brand-new
Salt Palace in central Salt Lake City, but even the huge
auditorium was unable to provide room for all of the lectures
which went on from early morning to late at night. A number
of other buildings had to be used, including the Mormon
Tabernacle.
In addition to the 300 scholars present, 10,000 historians,
genealogists, archivists and Mormon church members attend­ed
the conference, which covered such various fields as com­puters
as an aid to genealogy; guidelines for microfilming
decisions; the use of military and land records in furthering
genealogical research. From the Swedish point of view, four
general lectures were held: The court records of Sweden;
122
Swedish military and maritime records; Swedish genealogical
research techniques prior to 1750; and Swedish settlements
and records in the United States. Scholars from Sweden in­cluded
Dr. Sten Carlsson, Professor of History at the Uni­versity
of Uppsala, Dr. Åke Kromnow, National Archivist;
Dr. Birgitta Lager, Editor of the Swedish Biographical Lexi­kon
and Dr. Ulf Beijbom, Director of the Emigrant Institute
in Växjö.
One of the most impressive features of the visit to Salt
Lake City was the resources available at the library of the
Genealogical Society. This research center could not help
but impress scholars from around the world. Housed in this
excellent reference center are microfilm records from all
parts of the world. The Scandinavian countries are well repre­sented,
due mainly to the excellence of their statistical
records. Fine indices and registers exist and by looking for
a particluar parish or court record from Sweden, one needed
only to find the number of the microfilm. In a matter of a
few minutes the microfilm roll was at one's microfilm reader,
of which there were over 250, and one could begin the re­search
without waste of time. During the conference week
the library was open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and it was
crowded. The visitors were given extra service and every­thing
was done to make them feel at home.
One left the conference bewildered by the immensity of
the field and awed by the tremendous work being done by
the Mormon Church in bringing microfilms of valuable
records from every place to one central storage place. The
use of data techniques and computers will also revolutionize
research and will make it possible to shorten research time
considerably. Certain areas are already computer-program­med.
Thus it is possible to search central London's church
records for the 16th and 17th centuries and instantly find a
name buried in the records for centuries. It was a fascinating
experience to see science and engineering wedded to a hu­manistic
study.
123

Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections.

All rights held by the Swedish-American Historical Society. No part of this publication, except in the case of brief quotations, may be reproduced in any manner without the written permission of the editor and, where appropriate, the original author(s). For more information, please email the Society at info@swedishamericanhist.org

WORLD CONFERENCE ON RECORDS
IN SALT LAKE CITY
NILS WILLIAM OLSSON
The Genealogical Society of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latterday Saints celebrated its 75th anniversary Aug. 5-8,
1969, by hosting a World Conference on Records in Salt Lake
City, Utah. Answering an invitation from the Society, approx­imately
300 historians, archivists, and genealogists gathered
in Salt Lake City during the first week of August to lecture,
confer, and do research at a conference which probably was
the largest of its kind ever attempted.
The theme of the meeting was "Records Protection in an
Uncertain World," and one of the highlights of the visit was
a journey to the perpetual storage vaults, blasted out of the
primeval rock deep in the bowels of the mountains near
Utah's capital city. Here hundreds of rolls of raw microfilm
from every portion of the world arrive daily, are processed
and stored under conditions which are just about ideal.
The congress itself was carried on mainly in the brand-new
Salt Palace in central Salt Lake City, but even the huge
auditorium was unable to provide room for all of the lectures
which went on from early morning to late at night. A number
of other buildings had to be used, including the Mormon
Tabernacle.
In addition to the 300 scholars present, 10,000 historians,
genealogists, archivists and Mormon church members attend­ed
the conference, which covered such various fields as com­puters
as an aid to genealogy; guidelines for microfilming
decisions; the use of military and land records in furthering
genealogical research. From the Swedish point of view, four
general lectures were held: The court records of Sweden;
122
Swedish military and maritime records; Swedish genealogical
research techniques prior to 1750; and Swedish settlements
and records in the United States. Scholars from Sweden in­cluded
Dr. Sten Carlsson, Professor of History at the Uni­versity
of Uppsala, Dr. Åke Kromnow, National Archivist;
Dr. Birgitta Lager, Editor of the Swedish Biographical Lexi­kon
and Dr. Ulf Beijbom, Director of the Emigrant Institute
in Växjö.
One of the most impressive features of the visit to Salt
Lake City was the resources available at the library of the
Genealogical Society. This research center could not help
but impress scholars from around the world. Housed in this
excellent reference center are microfilm records from all
parts of the world. The Scandinavian countries are well repre­sented,
due mainly to the excellence of their statistical
records. Fine indices and registers exist and by looking for
a particluar parish or court record from Sweden, one needed
only to find the number of the microfilm. In a matter of a
few minutes the microfilm roll was at one's microfilm reader,
of which there were over 250, and one could begin the re­search
without waste of time. During the conference week
the library was open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and it was
crowded. The visitors were given extra service and every­thing
was done to make them feel at home.
One left the conference bewildered by the immensity of
the field and awed by the tremendous work being done by
the Mormon Church in bringing microfilms of valuable
records from every place to one central storage place. The
use of data techniques and computers will also revolutionize
research and will make it possible to shorten research time
considerably. Certain areas are already computer-program­med.
Thus it is possible to search central London's church
records for the 16th and 17th centuries and instantly find a
name buried in the records for centuries. It was a fascinating
experience to see science and engineering wedded to a hu­manistic
study.
123